


Local Dialect

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 09:59:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14767427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Lisa and Louisa bond over people being confused by their weird sayings. Because Texas has some weird-ass sayings according to the internet and you'd better believe that Australia has some weird stuff too.





	Local Dialect

Louisa felt exhausted just looking at her newest fluffy Haflinger. The mane and tail were gorgeously white and fluffy and just utterly perfect, but man, they were magnets for every prickle, leaf, flower, and twig in Jorvik. Ordinarily, Louisa could run her hand through this mare’s mane and tail and it felt like touching a cloud. But if she did that right now, she’d end up cutting her hand up from all of the thorns in there.

“Are you treating our engagement present well?” asked Lisa, a few horses nickering greetings to her and her horse of legend as she rode into the stable and dismounted in the middle. Starshine began walking around to greet old friends, including his mate Smokeeye, who was currently expecting another foal.

“Of course I am,” said Louisa, turning to give her fiancee a smile and a kiss. “She’s perfectly safe with me, aren’t you girl?” She gently petted Starsinger’s neck, dust puffing up at her touch.

“Yeah, it sure looks like it,” said Lisa with a laugh. “Did a dust storm blow through or something?”

“No,” said Louisa. “I’ve just been training her. Not my fault it never rains here except every single time the Firgrove championship is on and only in that area.”

“Could take her out to the oil rig for a shower,” said Lisa. Louisa laughed.

“We’ll all go shower out there,” said Louisa. “Call a truce so we can use their rain for showers.” They both laughed. Starsinger snorted, giving a swish of her tail. “Alright, alright, I’ll wash you. But first I have to get these bindis out.”

“The what?” said Lisa.

“Bindis,” said Louisa, picking out one of the little burrs and tossing it into the bucket that she’d brought over for burr storage. “Y’know, these things. Burrs, prickles, thorns. That’s not another Australian thing that confuses everyone, is it?”

“Nah, just never heard them called that before,” said Lisa, grabbing a pair of thick gloves from Louisa’s wardrobe and slipping them on. “Least it’s not like what you call flip flops.”

“They’re thongs,” said Louisa. Lisa giggled.

“But honestly, thanks for that, I needed that laugh,” said Lisa. “I know how it feels, though. Because I’m not just American, I come from the most southern state. The one where everything’s big.”

“Oh, you poor thing,” said Louisa. “You didn’t grow up in the sheltered Christian part of it, did you?”

“My mother was a Christian music singer,” said Lisa.

“Oh, you poor thing,” said Louisa, laying a hand on her arm. Lisa nodded.

“But hey, clearly none of those things rubbed off on me,” said Lisa.

“Yes, a lesbian getting married to another lesbian,” said Louisa. “And we’re both Aideenists now.”

“Kinda hard not to convert when you’re one of her champions,” said Lisa.

“I’m glad the Aideen religion doesn’t exclude anyone,” said Louisa. “But uh, when you said that you knew how it felt, what did you mean?”

“Oh, well, since I’m Texan, I say some pretty weird things sometimes and I think that it’s completely normal,” said Lisa.

“Like what?” asked Louisa.

“Don’t do it!” said Maya, leaning precariously down from the hayloft. “It’s not worth it! The first time she said something, I was so confused.”

“Hey, not my fault Jorvegians just aren’t cultured,” said Lisa. “And stop doing that, Maya, you’re making me nervous.”

“Okay but don’t let her tell you any jokes, Louisa,” said Maya. “She told me one, once. That joke took me an hour to get and let me tell ya, it wasn’t worth it.”

“Noted,” said Louisa.

“Aw, Maya, don’t ruin my fun,” said Lisa.

“Well, I guess she’s gotta get used to it if she’s going to marry you,” said Maya. “I’ll be out in the paddock, that’s both a warning and so you know where I am.”

“Got it,” said Louisa, holding her thumb up. “See you round.”

“Say an Australia thing,” said Lisa as she got back to work picking the various thorns and prickles out of Starsinger’s mane.

“She got out of there so fast, it’s like she thought we were going to have a root,” said Louisa.

“Given the context, I know what that means,” said Lisa. “A little lovin’. A little horizontal tango. She got out of here fast as greased lightning.”

“Hey, that’s not so strange, I’ve seen Grease,” said Louisa, working on Starsinger’s tail. “This mare here actually had a yellow leaf from Golden caught between her bridle and head, it looked pretty.”

“Don’t you have a medal like that?” asked Lisa. “I could’ve sworn you had one.”

“Yeah, dunno who has it on, though,” said Louisa. “One of the older ones, probably.”

“Yeah, probably,” said Lisa, nodding. “I’m sure Maya could tell you if you asked, she has a sharp eye.”

“Well, before I had her working with me, my stable was crooked as a dog’s hind leg,” said Louisa. Lisa looked at her, eyes widening slightly.

“Hey, that’s one of my sayings,” said Lisa, a grin slowly spreading across her face. “But I’ve never said that. And I don’t know any other Texans that you could’ve been hanging out with.”

“Maybe it worked its way into Australian lingo,” said Louisa. “Because I’ve heard it.” Lisa chuckled.

“Not the only thing that’s worked its way into an Australian,” said Lisa, smirking. Louisa blushed.

“Stop it!” Starshine called from where he still stood inside Smokeeye’s stall with her.

“Alright, alright,” said Louisa with a laugh. “But hey, you’re from Texas, do they really deep fry everything there?”

“Yes,” said Lisa, nodding. “I don’t know how I managed to be such a skinny child, growing up with all that fatty goodness, but I was thin as a bat’s ear when I was knee-high to a grasshopper.”

“I’ve heard that second one,” said Louisa, glancing once at Lisa before she returned to scrutinising Starsinger’s tail for burrs.

“Maybe it’s from one of the many things you read, watch, or play,” said Lisa.

“Or from growing up in a country town,” said Louisa.

“Heh, funny how I’m really only learning these things about you now that I’m marrying you,” said Lisa.

“But it’s not a turn-off, is it?” asked Louisa. Thankfully, there was no fear in her eyes this time, only good humour. Lisa smiled back at her.

“Nope,” said Lisa, leaning in to kiss her. “It only makes me fall even more in love with you. If that were possible.”

“Aww,” Louisa cooed, blushing and ducking her head before she grabbed a comb and began to gently drag it through Starsinger’s tail. She knew that she had to be careful, being at the rear end of a horse, but she was well-seasoned in taking care of horses now. She’d trained six Haflingers before, many North Swedish, Tinkers, and she’d trained Raven only a few days ago so she was very much used to grooming long tails that attracted burrs like manure attracted flies. Normal people probably had a harder time grooming horses, but there were certain perks to being a Wild Whisperer. She just had to tell a horse through their mental bond ‘don’t kick me, I’m just trying to clean your tail, kick me and you’ll have to go around all day with a filthy tail and all the other horses will laugh at you’. It usually worked.

“Yikes, her hooves are muddy,” said Lisa, picking up one of Starsinger’s hooves to inspect it.

“Yeah, Dino Valley,” said Louisa with an apologetic shrug. “I tried to clean it a bit when she started complaining about it, but what I really need is some running water and a good brush.”

“Steal the Bobcat’s hoofpick,” said Lisa. “They’ve got horns holding up their halos so nobody would hold it against you. Maybe not even Justin, and he’s sweeter than stolen honey.”

“And about as blind as a bat when it comes to people being mean,” said Louisa. “I like to think that his time away taught him a thing or two, though. Jorvik is too harsh for someone like him.”

“No doubt,” said Lisa, nodding. “Anyway, wanna swing by Moorland and steal us a hoof pick?”

“Highway robbery,” said Louisa. “Absolutely, let’s go dirty another horse.”

“Would it really collect that much dust just catching the trailer from here to Moorland?” asked Lisa.

“You’d be surprised,” said Louisa. “Moorland’s so busy that there’s always at least some dust being thrown up.”

“Yeah, true,” said Lisa with a shrug. “Is Smokeeye right to ride or is she too far along?”

“I’d rather not risk it,” said Louisa. “Doc Eiren said she has about a month to go.”

“What’s going to happen first, Starknight getting a sibling or the doc and the councilwoman getting hitched?” asked Lisa.

“Rania and I are placing bets,” said Louisa. “I mean, I don’t wanna rush them, but they’re such a cute couple that I’d love to see them married.”

“Maybe I should get in on that,” said Lisa. “I mean, Linda and I placed bets on when Anne and Alex would get together, who would break and tell us first, and who was the one to ask the other out.”

“Wow,” said Louisa. “Linda and Alex didn’t do that with us, did they?”

“Nah, things are too tense right now to have fun,” said Lisa. “But in another life, yeah, they totally would have.”

“I’m not surprised,” said Louisa. “Alright, let’s finish up everything else with her grooming before we head off. I’m sure it must be uncomfortable with all that dirt and dust in her coat.”

Together, Lisa and Louisa managed to groom most of the dirt and dust from Starsinger’s coat, trading local sayings as they did so. Louisa was surprised to find that she recognised a few of them, while Lisa giggled at some of Louisa’s ones.

“Some of those words you Aussies use just sound so bad,” said Lisa. “And others are just shortened versions.”

“It never seemed weird to me growing up,” said Louisa as she rubbed down Starsinger with a cloth. The mare raised her head, clearly enjoying the attention. “But then I came here, and suddenly people don’t know what an esky is. Well, they do, but they don’t have the same name. And the spider drink. A couple of weeks ago, one of the Siwanators, which I also didn’t know existed until only a few weeks ago-“

“Me neither,” Lisa added. “Good on that kid for being so famous at such a young age, but I kinda wanna give her some warning and home truths about fame.”

“You should,” said Louisa. “I don’t know if she’ll listen but it’d be good for her to have a mentor to give her some tips. Anyway, she gave me a milkshake for finding Bowbow’s collar but it looked more like a spider to me. My friends were so confused when I said that, until eventually Shadow asked me if I meant a ‘float’. So that was a little embarrassing.”

“Heh, my friends looked at me weird when I first asked if they had any deep fried stuff here,” said Lisa. “I fried them up a feast when I invited them over to my place the first time, though. They’re now addicted to Southern fried food.”

“Same,” said Louisa. “Hey, wait a minute! We’ve been dating for years now and you’ve never cooked me Southern fried things? Oh, and one of my friends also gave me a strange look when I mentioned that we had a deep fryer at home.”

“Well, Jorvik is pretty multicultural, especially because of Moorland’s summer camp,” said Lisa. “It’s only to be expected that there’ll be some culture clash.”

“You sound like Rebecca,” said Louisa with a laugh. She glanced over Starsinger. “Alright, she’s done, let’s go steal a hoof pick from Julie.”

“Let’s go be bandits,” said Lisa. “Although those girls are so spoiled they expect spoon-feeding, so I’m sure it won’t do them no harm to have to buy another hoof pick.”

“And then you have to cook me some Southern fried goodness when we get home,” said Louisa.

“I will,” said Lisa. “I promise.”

After finally selecting a horse (Goldmist, the one Louisa turned to for everything), the two young women rode off, heading to Moorland to steal a hoofpick. And, quite possibly, to insult the Bobcats in their own colloquialisms without the girls being any the wiser.


End file.
